Lots of queries mention specific cities or locales that the novels are set in. Does it really matter? Are you out there looking for a horror story set in Minnesota, and will pass on one set in Memphis or LA? Will a by-the-numbers romance suddenly seem exciting if it's set in Texarkana?
Evil Editor once had a policy of passing on any romance that didn't take place in Savannah, any science fiction novel set outside Philadelphia, etc. Then I realized I was the editor, and had the power to change the author's setting.
The first book I tried this on was a romance entitled Baked Alaska. The author wasn't pleased to find her opening paragraph changed to :
The wind-chill factor was 50 below when Kattituyok stepped out of his igloo. But nothing was going to keep him from his ice fishing date with Tulugaak. At least it's summer, he thought, as he trudged through chest-high snow drifts toward the north end of Savannah, Georgia.Once it became clear that there was more work involved than just changing all the Atqasuks to Savannahs, I decided it would be easier to let the authors have their way. But that's not exactly what you asked.
I don't care where your book is set. I do have some interest in whether you write with specificity and conciseness. If you tell me your book is set in a large metropolitan area on the east coast, in a state that's not too big, but certainly not small, when you could have just said Philadelphia, I'm going to be worried that your 70,000-word book is actually 22,000.
One more thing: Do you have a horror story set in Minnesota? If so, email me, we'll set up a lunch.
5 comments:
10,000 writers are now working feverishly to change their horror story settings to Minnesota, EE. Expect your e-mail to crash about Sunday evening. -JTC
Lately I've been setting everything in Miami because I lived there for so long. (And my real hometown, St. Louis, has pretty much already been taken.)
I hated Miami. But I know where everything is, and where I live now isn't really the best setting for urban fantasy. Most urban fantasies require an urban setting, which rural Southwest England is not.
So Miami it is.
My book is set in the largely Anduni lands of Fjorg and Kahli. But what the hey, I could change it to Minnesota...
For sf/f the setting is one of the characters. I'd believe it's important to at least give the setting a name (but not the 8,000 boring details about it).
I guess the key is relevancy.
There is NOTHING exciting about Texarkana - 'cept there was this one time at this truck stop...
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